Invisible Ties
by ShadowSter
Summary: An aspiring young man named Kazu is enveloped into the death game known infamously as Sword Art Online. While here, he crosses paths with a mysterious swordsman that simply goes by 'Owain'. As they travel together, the two will fight to escape SAO and place their lives back in control. But what truly matters, are the unbreakable bonds made with your friends on the way to victory.


Today was a somewhat peaceful day little disturbances had been presented as rain gently dripped off of the roof of the two story house onto the patio far below it. Of course, Kazu – like many other kids his age – would be spending his time on this somewhat ugly day inside, his attention meter being sucked dry on his personal computer, which gave off a somewhat eerie glow to the room he was situated in.

Currently, Kazu was furiously scribbling on a sheet of paper that his friend had given him. Obviously, it was homework assigned by his teacher who clearly enjoyed giving homework every single day. Kazu had missed school today because he had called in sick. Looking at the young male while he answered the remaining math problems on the worksheet would guarantee that he was, in fact, perfectly healthy.

Kazu – like many other gamers at his school – had called in "sick" today just to avoid the task of going to school so they could attempt at purchasing the game that was selling hot off the market; Sword Art Online. Why wouldn't you desire such a game? It was, in fact, the first VMMORPG currently and held much promise to leave a positive effect for future games of this genre.

The sound of the furious pencil suddenly stopped as Kazu set it down, he sighed in relief as he was finished the strenuous task of catching up on his work. Unlike most students that had played hooky today, Kazu wasn't worried about missing potential education and having to make it up by staying after school. Kazu was one of most intelligent students in the school after all.

Though he never enjoyed discussing about this talent of his, preferring to stay modest about it.

In any case, Kazu currently could care less about school and things of that matter, right now he was simply excited to play the game he had purchased – which was of course – Sword Art Online.

_I can hardly believe I was able to purchase a copy, I thought for sure I wouldn't get one. _

Kazu mused himself with his own thoughts while he neatly placed his makeup work in his binder before subsequently placing said binder in his book bag, ensuring that'd he would be ready to hastily awake the next morning to get to school.

What? Of course Kazu would be playing the hottest game on the market for a good portion of tonight, possibly stretching into the next day. Kazu's mother and father both knew he had stupendous grades, so they wouldn't mind as long as he was learning.

Kazu's hazel eyes gleamed vividly with excitement in the dull room as he plugged he finished plugging his Nerve Gear into his computer and inserting the game into its correct location. Within moments, Kazu was laid down in his bed, the helmet already placed over his head, as he suddenly felt… wrong. As if something were much more ominous about this game…

_Bah. You worry too much. Just play the game. _

Kazu took a small breath as he finished his thought process and pushed aside his wariness before stating out loud in the dark and lonely room, "Link start!" In the next few instances, Kazu's body went completely still, not budging an inch or uttering a single noise.

All that could be heard was the steady pitter-patter of the rain and Kazu's steady breathing, almost as if he were simply asleep. The rain proceeded to fall endlessly… almost like tears….

* * *

After the tedious process of creating his character and fooling around with the options – namely shenanigans that had Kazu switching between the female and male gender – Kazu was finally in the game of Sword Art Online.

The young man opened his eyes to view the world around him – which had been changed to blue – and what Kazu saw almost looked as if it were… real. This world was beyond outstanding… well the game's graphics looked outstanding; it was almost unreal to how realistic it looked.

The town he was now scanning over with his blue eyes was breathtaking, despite how simple it was. Numerous players were already conversing around the markets and many others were attempting to bargain with the merchants nearby, hoping to achieve a good deal on starting weapons.

Not much forestry was present in this medieval-like town – actually, there was probably none at all – however, the numerous players that could be seen being extremely friendly to one another made the town feel safe and very relaxing to be in.

Kazu looked downwards to see his hands; he viewed them for a few moments, admiring the simple long sleeved black shirt and dark blue pants he had equipped for his character.

_Very peculiar… it's very similar to the way reality looks… although it looks nice… I can't help but wonder why… bah. I'm wasting time ogling over how the game looks… I would enjoy testing out this game's combat. _

Gripping his right hand tightly into a fist, Kazu looked back upwards and began to walk into the town he had spawned in, weaving in and out of a few crowds that moved in his opposite direction and listening in on a few conversations of players as he passed by.

None were worth noting in particular, but Kazu still smiled at the fact that players were at least attempting to make friends with one another. Kazu on the other hand decided he would test how friendly players _really _were later, right now he just wanted to gain some experiences of combat in this game.

_It'll be much more different than simply laying back in a chair and mashing buttons on a keyboard… the enemy will be right in front of my face… _

Kazu made sure he noted this, keeping it stored in the back of his head as he left the town behind him, hearing less and less of the conversing as he distanced himself from the bustling town.

_Time to see what's in store for me!_

* * *

A wild boar stomped the ground as it began to graze in the wide and vast field that Kazu had traveled to. The young man himself was crouched nearby, eyeing the boar as if he were a predator about to pounce on its prey.

_A boar? Strange enemy to introduce… though it seems that such an enemy would have charging attacks, could possibly be quite fast as well… however… _

Kazu narrowed his blue eyes at the boar and began to circle around it to a better position. Kazu rubbed his chin slightly as he went through his thought process once more while studying the wild creature with his intelligent blue eyes.

_If it were to charge forward with its tusks… yes… _

A wide smile crossed Kazu's face, making him look very sure of himself as he unsheathed a bronze sword he had bought at the market after he had quickly returned when he realized he had not bought a weapon.

Kazu had actually fought an enemy… grabbed for his sword… then found out said weapon was not even in existence yet…

_Gods that was embarrassing… I hope no one saw such a thing… _

Shaking his head, which caused his white hair to move slightly, Kazu spun his sword around slightly to loosen his wrist before rushing the boar from behind. The young man proceeded to produce a quick and light slash upwards, which cut through the boars behind and caused the creature to squeal.

This moment didn't last for long however, the boar quickly turned around, its eyes seeming to be in rage as it stamped at the ground angrily, lowering its tusks as it readied to charge towards Shiro.

_Let's hope my strategy works… _

Kazu quickly leaped back as the boar began to finally charge at a fast speed, just as Kazu had predicted. The young man stood still for a few moments, watching as the boar came ever so closer to him…

But the boar only met air as it thrust its tusks upwards, hoping to pierce the player that had angered it.

Kazu had sidestepped the boar's tusks, now on the left flank of the small creature. He smirked slightly before slashing upwards once more, which he thought would've quickly finished the creature.

It did not.

Instead, the attack did little damage to the boar and seemed to only anger it more. Kazu's eyes widened in surprise as he remembered that this wasn't reality, things such as weak points probably did not exist in this game.

_Gah… I shouldn't of let this slip my mind… what were the attacks called in this game? Sword… sword…. something… _

Kazu's thoughts were interrupted by the presence of the boar, which was currently charging towards him once more, and if he did nothing about it, Kazu would most definitely get hit.

_Time to improvise! _

Kazu thought to himself in a panicked manner, which also was what his emotion on his face currently was. Kazu's blue eyes widened as the boar came to clash him head on, however the young man suddenly pulled his blade backwards and stabbed forward straight into the head of the boar.

Kazu's bronze sword glowed a bright red as he did this, the attack pierced through the boar's head and stopped it dead in its tracks as the attack caused the boar's life bar to deplete to zero in a single decisive hit.

_H-huh?!_

The boar made no death groan, but it made haste into shattering into thousands of shards of light as the game deleted it and declared it "dead". A simple mechanic really, nothing too special for this game, he expected the animal to simply ragdoll, most games did that nowadays.

Kazu saw as a small window appeared on his interface, declaring he had won – which was quite obvious at this point. Kazu poked the screen with his index finger to close it after he scanned over the experience he had earned, anything else did not matter to him he'd worry about it later.

_Things have been going well so far… combat is exhilarating…yet frightening to a certain extent._

Kazu scanned the fields once more, watching a few boars spawn in through the system, which made him sigh slightly. That was quite lazy to make mobs spawn in front of players, but this game was a first for its genre after all. A few shortcuts taken here and there were acceptable.

Another player could be seen far off into the distance; Kazu narrowed his blue eyes to see this player was wielding a curved blade, viciously slashing down boar after boar as he… or she walked here and there, casually killing enemies as this person went along.

Again, Kazu sighed to himself, some players were just naturals at this type of stuff… others were former beta testers of course, but finding one beta tester out of ten thousand players? Highly unlikely for such a chance meeting to occur, especially when this game was just starting.

Kazu was about to simply leave the player to his… or her own devices and go off on his own… but something strange about the player intrigued him… the way the player attacked… it changed after every boar…

_Ah…_

An axe could clearly be seen now as the player mercilessly chopped down on a boar, causing it to shatter into shards of light and "die". This player definitely knew what they were doing; Kazu had studied how axes were wielded and how ancient warriors attacked with such weapons. The same went for swords, and so far, this player had peerless skill with such weapons, almost as if they had used them in reality.

_An intriguing concept to consider… though it's none of my business… I'll make sure to keep a look out for this player again in the future… might meet this skilled fighter one day… _

Mentally book marking on how the players movements were like and the weapons of choice of the player, Kazu silently walked off. The reason he had memorized those particular things was for one reason, he seriously couldn't see how they looked from far away. The player didn't SEEM like a woman… though he could be wrong…

_I'm going to presume it's a male though. Might cause one less headache if and when we finally meet. _

Kazu turned around and began to walk back towards the way he came, hoping to find an isolated area to train and experiment with combat on his own. However, he stopped when the sudden ringing of church bells sounded throughout the area.

The young man stiffened at the noise, not making any sudden movements as his blue eyes scanned the current area he was in. Kazu was very uneasy, he didn't know what was going on.

_It wouldn't make sense to assume Church is now in session…. this must be something else- _

Kazu's brooding was cut short as he was enveloped in a bright light and transferred back into the town he had left so many hours ago. Kazu looked around in surprise, his blue eyes widened slightly as he looked around to see many other players were just as baffled as him.

Even players who had been inside of the town were teleported the small distance into the middle of the town. Kazu scanned around the crowd, seeing that most of the players were worried, confused, or just plain frightened. With a frown, Kazu began to prepare some choice words for whatever administrator thought it would be a good idea to teleport all players to the town square without even as much of a warning.

_You don't want to scare players away… that's just bad for the game itself… _

Sighing to himself, Kazu crossed his arms and waited for the "event" as other players had begun to call it to start. Something caught his eye though, which made Kazu look upwards. A single red hexagon could be seen in the sky, distinguishing itself from the other panels that resembled the sky itself.

_What in the name of- _

Within the next few moments, the panel spread like the plague, infecting all of the other tiles of the sky around it and creating an ominous atmosphere for the players. The entire town was now engulfed in a red darkness, making this all the more ominous.

One final player was teleported in, right in front of Kazu to be exact. The player seemed to have been in motion when they were teleported… for they were currently crashing onto Kazu.

"L-Look out!" The player said in a somewhat butchered male voice. Kazu had no time to catch a glance at this players face, for he quickly acted and caught the player firmly with his arms. He nearly fell himself, but managed to balance out before he created a domino effect in the crowd.

None of the other players seemed to notice; they were all paying attention to the sky, which had turned blood red.

Seeing as nothing was happening still, Kazu looked back at this player he had caught and steadied him upright before whispering, "Are you alright?" His blue eyes scanned over this player, stopping dead on his face… which was nothing but a butterfly-like mask that covered his eyes and most of his face, though left the players mouth exposed.

The player nodded, quickly dusting himself off before clearing his throat, whispering as well, "I'm fine, thank you." He spoke once again, his voice sounding odd for some reason.

_We're not all perfect I suppose…. _

Kazu quickly glanced up and down his apparel finding most of the armor to be somewhat common; his hair was the darkest shade of black, rivaling obsidian to a certain degree. Most of his body was covered as well, which was somewhat odd to Kazu. But what interested him the most was that mask…

_Who lies behind such a mysterious mask…? _

Perhaps Kazu would never know.

Kazu smirked, ensuring his thoughts were well hidden as he held out his hand, hoping he'd shake it, "I'm Kazu, nice to meet you." He smiled somewhat warmly, hoping to test out if players were truly friendly in this game. Though now may seem like a bad time, Kazu thought it wouldn't hurt to try now, nothing was happening at the moment anyways.

The player didn't even look down at Kazu's hand, simply crossing his arms and answering in the same awkward sounding male voice, "Likewise." He responded, leaving his name unsaid at the moment as he quickly changed his attention to the sky.

Kazu frowned seeming a little hurt from how cold this guy's personality was. He awkwardly retracted his hand, "W-Well, I suppose we should attend to the matter at hand anyways… any idea what is going on?"

The player shrugged in his dark armor, it was still difficult to distinguish what the color of the armor was when the dark red light loomed over every player, "My guess is as good as yours." He replied simply and curtly.

Kazu opened his mouth to ask another question to keep the conversation going, but it seemed as if this player had little interest in conversing with another at the moment, let alone making a friend. So instead, Kazu closed his mouth and decided to look at the sky once more.

However, Kazu's mouth would soon gape open once more as he looked upwards, a thick substance poured out of the panels, looking almost as if the sky was raining blood…

_This game… went from awesome… to disturbing… _

As far as Kazu could remember, the game was never said to be in the horror genre. This was most troubling indeed, what in the world was going on here?!

Kazu glanced over towards the other player he had recently met, he seemed indifferent about this situation, simply looking at the substance as it began to form into a physical object… a Game Master it seemed to be. His matching dark red robe seemed to hold no person inside of it though.

Kazu and the player he was somewhat aquatinted with looked up towards the Game Master like all of the other players, though Shiro had closed his gaping jaw and was now focusing completely on the new being here.

_Did… did he perhaps plan this…? _

"Welcome, players! To the world of Aincrad!" The Game Master boomed out, scaring Kazu out of his thoughts as he focused once more on the ominous Game Master, who still held a cryptic origin himself.

_Not to say the lad next to me isn't either… _

The Game Master extended his hand towards the crowd, making a sweeping motion with his arm, "I thank all of you for playing this wondrous game known as Sword Art Online, otherwise known as my world."

Players glanced around at each other with confused faces, all of which were asking the same question, what exactly did he mean by 'his world'? Kazu himself was concerned greatly over this now.

The Game Master placed his hand idly by his side once more, "I will be straight forward with this; I am the only Game Master that is present in this game currently, meaning I am the only one who can control solely what occurs in this game." The voice imbued into the robes continued his somewhat practiced speech.

Kazu frowned at this, as did a few other players. This couldn't possibly be true… unless of course it was meant to scare players as a joke.

_Let's hope this is nothing more but a poorly created jest… _

"My name is Kayaba Ahkiko, the creator of Sword Art Online." He continued, only a few players reacted to this statement, Kazu being one of them as the Game Master revealed his identity. The game creator himself was doing this? There was on way this was a joke then… this had to be serious if the game creator himself would do this.

Kazu once more looked over at his acquaintance, he stood unmoving, still in the same position as he was when Kayaba began the entire speech, hiding his opinions and thoughts better than Kazu ever would.

_Such a mysterious fellow I'd say… _

"As some players have already noticed, there is no way to log out of Sword Art Online anymore. The option has simply disappeared. However, I assure you, this is no 'bug' within the game, it is in fact the greatest feature of Sword Art Online." Kayaba continued, explaining his a loud and piercing voice to the mass of players.

Shiro began to navigate through his menu as Kayaba continued with his long speech, just wanting to ensure that what he said was true, "Further more, if one should perish in Sword Art Online, the feature to be revived has been discontinued as well. Death within Sword Art Online means you die in reality as well. When your avatar is lost, so is your life. Fairly simple, no?"

Many players gasped when they heard this, accusing Kayaba of being a liar, others claiming this to be one of the sickest jokes they've ever seen, even a few asked him to go away.

Kayaba seemed to respond to none of these words thrown at him, simply putting his hands upwards and sweeping both of them outwards as a large screen popped up in the sky along with the blood red color.

Kazu turned his attention to the screen, intently watching as thousands of news reports were warning the world about this game, stating that at least two hundred players had already perished in Sword Art Online and subsequently lost their life in reality as well.

The crowd became deathly silent, tension beginning to rise even more as they silently viewed in horror at what Kayaba was saying was in fact true, "Unfortunately, two hundred players have already lost their lives to the game, either through being bested by the mobs, or someone attempting to take their Nerve Gear off, which instantly killed said players."

"Do not fret though, the world has been forewarned to not do such a thing, so the risk of being 'disconnected' from Sword Art Online is minimum at the moment." Kayaba stated coolly, as if this was simply an everyday thing for him.

Kazu's eyes were not wide anymore, but narrowed as he tried to think of reasons why someone like Kayaba would do such a thing. It just didn't add up… other than wanting to be the complete overlord over ten thousand people...

"You are not eternally doomed to one day die in Sword Art Online however." Kayaba began once again, closing the news reports with a sweep of his hand once more, "If all one hundred floors were to be cleared by the roughly ten thousand players of Sword Art Online, all players would immediately be given the option to disconnect and return to their normal lives."

Kayaba's robes began to produce a dark mist from them, almost as if the embodied form he was taking at this moment was beginning to fade, "Even so, people will die in this struggle to survive, sacrifices will have to be made for everyone to escape."

"On a completely unrelated note, I left you all a present in your inventories, please use it." Kayaba quickly added.

Every player went into their inventories, including Kazu and his acquaintance, players all around and Kazu began to equip the 'present', "A… mirror?" Kazu whispered aloud, the player Kazu had met looked at the mirror with a tilt of his head as well.

Kazu looked back into the mirror and was suddenly engulfed in another bright light. Before he could even react, the change had been done and Kazu no longer had chilling blue eyes and snow-white hair. Shiro was changed into what he looked like in reality, his vivid hazel eyes and unchanged short white hair showed him this as he gasped slightly.

_I… can't believe this… I didn't think he'd utilize that feature of the Nerve Gear… _

The whole 'calibration' sequence had been nothing but a sly way to get information for how every player looked, Kayaba seriously seemed to want to make this game realistic.

_Ah… now I see why he spent so much time on the graphics as well…_

Kazu looked over towards the player he had met, and was surprised to see some differences in him as well, though the butterfly mask was still covering his eyes and such. The guy now had navy blue hair, a strange color, but it was interesting to look at. His body seemed different as well… almost as if he had become slimmer.

_The Nerve Gear copied everything about our true identities though… so I'm not surprised he looks different than what his avatar was._

A low laugh could be heard coming from Kayaba as his robes began to slide off, showing the dark mass inside was now becoming nothing, "And so, I formally welcome all of you to my world once more, enjoy your stay."

With that said and done, Kayaba completely dispersed, leaving nothing behind but a pile of robes lying in the middle of the town square, the sky didn't even change yet, still in it's deathly red color as it loomed over the town.

No one uttered a word; the once happy and bustling town had become nothing more than a silent, ominous, and dark town now. This was not good at all.

Kazu snapped out of his daze and looked around, seeing that no one had reacted yet as they stayed deathly silent, it felt as if he were standing inside of a graveyard now.

_I should take my leave now… before hell breaks loose… _

"I don't want to die!" A girl's screech cut through the silence, causing all of the other players to remember where they were. Majority of them began to scream along as well, fearing their death in this game.

Kazu was surprised, he would admit it, but he wasn't particularly scared. It's the same as reality right? No matter what world you were in, you could die in either or. Still, death seemed to be a much more easier factor to succumb to in a world where exploration itself just means death.

Not only that, but monsters where not something you encountered in reality. Unless crazed humans counted that is…

Kazu suddenly felt himself be pulled away from the writhing crowd, he watched players go berserk right before his eyes, though he did catch small amounts of players dashing off on their own, understanding that this was a dangerous situation, but knowing that delaying would be daft.

_Good to know I'm not the only one thinking this way… but who in the hell is pulling me along anyways?_

As the crowd began to fade from Kazu, he looked over his shoulder to see the mysterious fighter was pulling him along through an alleyway towards the forest. Kazu tilted his head, "So you decide to take me along, but refuse to make conversation with me?"

The player turned his head sharply, gritting his teeth slightly, which were very white, "Forgive me for that, I've never been one for carrying on conversations well." He let go of Kazu and politely motioned for him to follow.

Kazu smirked and waved his hand, "It's fine, but I'd appreciate it if you told me your name, I gave you mine after all. Not only that, but you didn't answer my question; why did you take me along?"

The player sighed slightly and nodded, "You may call me Owain." He responded simply once more, "I brought you along in particular since you didn't freak out from being told that. You also show some promise."

Kazu raised an eyebrow, as his brown eyes seem to question him slightly, "Owain, huh?" Kazu then grinned as he heard her other sentence be stated, "That's… good to know. Hopefully I shall not let you down."

Owain crossed his arms and nodded slightly, "Anyways, I believe we should get going now, time is wasting and we need to get to the next town with haste."

Kazu nodded slightly, keeping in pace with Owain as he walked side by side with the cryptic warrior, "How far is it from here? The town of course." Kazu asked, rubbing his chin slightly as he eagerly awaited the response.

"Not far at all, we'll only encounter low leveled boars on the way there. Going alone would be risky, but together would ensure a safe journey." Owain stated calmly as he equipped a simple sword. He was still using that awkwardly choppy voice, which intrigued Kazu even more.

_Wait a minute… that sword… it's the same one that skilled fighter was using out in the fields!_

So Owain wielded an axe and a sword? Interesting indeed. If Kazu had known that, they would've been already halfway there instead of discussing if it was possible for them to get to the next town easily.

Kazu was mostly worried about the fact that their weapons durability could wear out at any minute and shatter into nothingness if that's how the game system decided that something was 'broken'.

But this factor that had made Kazu wary was now gone, Owain had a sword and an axe, that would surely be enough for the trip, and by Owain's tone of how far the town was, it really seemed like an easy trip.

"Right, then let's get going, shall we?" Kazu stated as he unsheathed his bronze sword, ready to go when Owain was.

Owain nodded curtly, his butterfly-like mask hiding his eyes, emotions and thoughts still, not even twitching a smirk on his lips as he unsheathed his own sword, "Keep up." He stated before dashing off at a fairly fast pace, which surprised Kazu as he had some trouble catching up with the nimble warrior.

_He's very closed in and has yet to reveal anything about himself. It's a little skeptical, but I suppose he can be trusted to a certain extent… he doesn't seem like the type to betray… but I could be wrong._

Kazu slashed at a boars flank as he ran by, finishing off any boars that Owain did not manage to cut down with his powerful swipes and stabs. He was quite proficient with a sword; it was an exciting event to witness. Owain kept the fast pace up, hardly making any noise as he ran with his nimble and agile feet.

The two proceeded to charge through the fields, unyielding and unstoppable as they quickly made their way towards the next town. But what horrors they would find in the months to come was a bleak future that was forming with every single breath they took… the hardships of this death game would decide who lived…

…and who died.

* * *

**A/N: Sooo, what did you think? :D A few questions presented here and there, like the identity of the mysterious Owain. I was happy to make this fanfic, and plan to continue it all the way through. :P If you guys and gals liked the story or had a complaint of any kind, or even just wanted to leave a tip I'd be grateful if you took the time to write a review. :) Anyways, I'll see how this chapter goes before posting the second one, until then!**

**Also, this is NOT a crossover for all who keep asking. :P **


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